Cuban doctors Gauteng Health

Cuban doctors arriving in South Africa.
Image via: ER Lombard / Gallo

‘Cuban Brigade’ to reflect on its COVID-19 battle in South Africa

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize and Cuba’s ambassador to South Africa, Radolfo Benitez Verson are expected to give an update on the deployment of more than 200 doctors who were roped in to help the country in its battle against the coronavirus.

Cuban doctors Gauteng Health

Cuban doctors arriving in South Africa.
Image via: ER Lombard / Gallo

The Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize is expected to be joined by the Cuba’s ambassador to South Africa, Radolfo Benitez Verson, to give an update the role played by the Cuban Brigade in various provinces during South Africa’s COVID-19 pandemic.

Verson and Mkhize are expected to reflect on the deployment of the more than 200 doctors who were roped in to help the country in its battle against the coronavirus, among other issues.

The Eastern Cape, which currently has more than 83 000 cases of COVID-19, received an additional 10 medical doctors from the country in the beginning of August 2020. Initially, 20 of the 200 doctors had been deployed to the province, but due to capacity issues and the rise in cases, doctors from other provinces were redeployed to hotspot areas in the Eastern Cape.

Cuban Brigade called-in to assist South Africa’s coronavirus fight

Coincidentally, this comes just a day after Cubans commemorated what would have been former president Fidel Castro’s 94th birthday.

South Africa’s ties to Cuba and by extension, Castro, date back to pre-democracy.

“In the Wall of Names built in Freedom Park, Pretoria, there is a stone wall with the name of Fidel engraved on it, along with the names of the 2289 Cuban heroes who sacrificed their lives in the fight against colonialism and apartheid in Africa. This is a symbolic demonstration of the bonds that forever tie Fidel and Cuba to this continent and to South Africa”, Verson said in an opinion piece for IOL.

The controversial deployment, came with a reported R440 million price tag, to the dismay of many South Africans – who were undoubtedly outraged, given the fact that a number of medical graduate across the country are unemployed.

‘Add on to South African resources’

Mkhize subsequently defended the decision and said they were not in the country to steal the jobs of local doctors and would only serve as a reinforcement given their special medical skills.

The Cuban Embassy said their deployment was necessary and a “moral duty”, considering the two nations’ histories.

“It was a moral duty for us to immediately respond to the request for assistance that we were made to face, together with our South African brothers and sisters, this terrible virus. Just as we fought together, South Africans and Cubans, against the apartheid regime, together we will face and overcome the pandemic”, the embassy said following the doctors’ arrival.